Tea for three
“...you visited me.” Matthew 25:36a
Teatime is one of our Easter practices this year. It is nothing special, except that it is.
I have realized that it might be nice to actually invest in a teapot sometime soon, but in the meantime Henlee and I have enjoyed a once-weekly tea with at least one other woman in our community, mugs in-hand.
Our first guest brought us a “second-hand bouquet” for our table made resplendent with clippings from her own garden. I have never before felt so inspired to learn something about flower arranging.
What simplicity — flowers showing beauty when no one in the world asked them to do it, our friend gathering joy in green glass just for the blessing.
She also brought us a kool aid container full of homemade “Friendship Tea” and a lifetime full of honest stories of bravely facing one’s fears, risking being the first at doing something hard, and showing up to try. She renewed my weary heart with the power of laughter.
In a culture that tends to only value the tea you’re willing to spill, this kind of visiting takes nerve.
It’s more than doilies. It’s more than hot drinks warming you through, though that is certainly nice.
This kind of tea is finding connection and communion in common, presence and particularity on the porch.
Ah, so there for us is even more beauty to behold, more joy gathered just for the blessing.
Let’s pull out our mugs — or tea sets if we’ve got ‘em! — and our favorite blends. Let’s clear off the table and a bit of our schedules. Let’s open up, invite. Let’s listen and hear to the heart of the moment.
Maybe we ready a few wondering questions. What is it that we really want to ask the precious, one-of-a-kind woman in this precious, once-forever moment?
My word, what the world would look like if we beheld the beauty before us. If we let the Kingdom steam and steep into our every week?
Simply, even, over tea for three?
A few helpful links:
Here’s a simple overview of tea etiquette. Take it or leave it, of course, but when I was preparing for this practice, I discovered that I had no idea what I was asking women to do! I don’t want tea or anything I do to be stuffy or stiff, for sure, but sometimes form can help focus my efforts.
Here’s a neat take on how to start tea with kiddos from Autumn Kern at The Commonplace (video).
Books on grace in the ordinary:
The Lifegiving Home: Creating A Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally and Sarah Clarkson
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life
by Tish Harrison Warren
Seasons of Wonder: Making the Ordinary Sacred Through Projects, Prayers, Reflections, and Rituals: A 52-week devotional by Bonnie Smith Whitehouse